O/T Military Service and Citizenship

[scrapper13]

i have a friend who is a legal resident of the united states but not a citizen (he moved here when he was in grade school) He was just honorably discharged from the marine corps and served a tour in Iraq. He is in the process of obtaining his U.S. citizenship, however he has to go through the same long process as anyone else. I have a big problem with this and believe that any non citizen who serves in the military should be granted full citizenship upon an honorable discharge. They are risking their lives for this country and the i think citizenship would be the least we could do to acknowledge their sacrifice.

 

[remmy]

He shouldn't have to go through all the bull. As I understand the law, once you do a deployment to a war zone as a non-citizen then you don't have to go through the bull. If he is getting the run around he should call a local recruiter and get his help.

 

[vintagemuscle]

Active duty and recently discharged veterans have an accelerated process for obtaining citizenship. Contact a veterans representative for more information and assistance.

Vintagemuscle

 

[mike913]

When I was in the army i had a buddy that was a non US citizen, he had to go through the same bs as your friend is going through. It took quite a while for the whole process but he eventually got his citizenship. I figured they would just give these guys citizenship for serving, but I guess not.... they have to go through the same bs as anyone else but im sure they're never actually denied. your friend shouldnt worry though, he served honorably and now all he has to do is the paperwork and waite

 

[N_iraq]

damn

thats a shame that he wasnt able to do it while he was deployed. while i was there they had 2 big ceremonies for citizenship for active duty people that were deployed but were not us citizens. i would call the info line at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

 

[scrapper13]

i read that 8,000 non citizens enlist every year. im not exactly sure he may be in an accelerated process, however it is still pretty slow. point is the army has owned him for 5 years and know everything about him, so im sure if they wanted they could do everything for him to avoid all the paperwork.

 

[remmy]

On the AFN network there were always commercials talking about how easy it is now for noncitizens that have deployed to get their citizenship once they return home. It is a shame if they haven't streamlined the process for them yet.

 

[Pekkerwood]

It would be the "honorable" thing to do. My goodness, it would be hard to believe their are not special processes.

I realize that mandatory public and/or military service is fading out in some nations (Italy), I have a hard time believing its not a good thing for a lot of people. Public service anyway with no military component if not wished.

I also wish everyone had to pay taxes, if only $1, just to realize that services have a cost are we cannot vote ourselves "free" stuff.